How Long Does it Take to Become an Entrepreneurial Society – The Case of German Convergence in Self-EmploymentVolume 4Jena Economic Research Papers2010-03-17201020072010-015Entrepreneurshipregional convergenceself-employmentregional developmenttransitionGermanySince the beginning of the transformation of East Germany from a socialist planned economy to a market economy, there has been an ambitious political goal of fostering entrepreneurial activity in that part of the country. One of the most-hoped for results of this undertaking is the anticipated contribution of small and new ﬁrms to solving the economic, social, and political problems of East Germany, thereby narrowing the gap between East and West Germany. This paper uses panel data from 1992 to 2005 on 97 German regions to analyze recent convergence in self-employment rates. An astonishing catching-up process is observed for East German regions during the period under study. However, the general convergence between East and West Germany observed during the ﬁrst years after reuniﬁcation has not been maintained. In short, some East German regions have achieved convergence with West German self-employment rates and some have not.jportal_jpjournal_000000162010-03-17T07:05:40.862Z2010-12-17T11:54:17.447Z